You are here

Dino Transfers Blast Furnace Cement from Big Bags into Bulk Trucks

Argos & Mijnmaatschappij Cement Co. (A&MCC) in Willemstad in Curaçao, looked all over the world for a mobile installation for loading blast furnace cement from big bags into bulk trucks.

After careful consideration, the Van Beek cement Dino seemed to have the best configuration. Despite coming at a slightly higher purchase price, “The fast payback time of the Dino and good after care by Van Beek were the deciding factors for us in the end,” according to Maarten van de Laar, technical service manager at A&MCC.

The Loading Process
A&MCC uses the Dino to transfer blast furnace cement from big bags into bulk trucks. This cement comes from Europe and is transported by cargo vessels to the central port in Curaçao. From the central port the big bags are driven to the cement transfer station on the bay of Fuikbaai. Bulk trucks from Betonindustrie Brievengat -- a large local building block, paving, and concrete supplier -- supply the company’s different concrete and block plants on the island with cement. The cement is transferred into a bulk truck by pressurized air and then pumped into the silos as if it were a liquid.

“We were looking for a reliable and user-friendly big bag cement installation, because the plant we had then was very out of date and constantly caused problems,” said Maarten van de Laar, technical service manager at A&MCC. “A mobile plant seemed just the right solution. We first looked on the Internet in America. But because of our experience with European machines, and with a view to possible after care, we wanted to look further. So we searched further on the Internet and by searching with the words ‘bulk truck’ we discovered Van Beek in the Netherlands. This was followed by a telephone call to Van Beek and we were on the right road. When talking to Roel Kneepkens we immediately had a good feeling about the Van Beek cement Dino. In particular Roel clearly explained the differences from the American model, that we had found previously and the options for this Dino bulk truck loader. After careful selection, the Dino seemed to have the best configuration and to be the best solution for us. The Dino is of course a little more expensive to buy, but the fast payback time of this Dino and good after care by Van Beek were the deciding factors for us in the end.”

Technical specifications
The Dino bulk truck loader for cement has a capacity of 40 cu m/hr and is made of steel with a coated body. The hopper is fitted with big bag cutters, with ‘fluidizing pads’ at the inlet to promote the cement flow. The screen cover on the hopper ensures that any coarse and/or other materials that should not be in the cement are filtered out of the cement stream. A loading bellows with a dust filter unit on the outlet side ensures dust-free loading. The Dino bulk truck loader has a cover over the full length of the screw that can be opened to clean the installation quickly and properly. It was simple to transport the Dino to Curaçao as the machine folds down and as a result can fit compactly into a 40-ft sea container.

“This machine is a real ‘cement-dino’,” said Roel Kneepkens, sales engineer at Van Beek, adds. “Van Beek has already sold over 350 Dinos worldwide, from Russia to England. But this machine is the first Dino for A&MCC that has crossed over the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in the Caribbean. I hope that this ‘exotic’ Dino may be a spin-off for many deliveries to the West.”